Effects of blood flow restriction during moderate-intensity eccentric knee extensions

• Published in: The journal of physiological sciences Vol. 68; no. 5; pp. 589 - 599
• Main Authors: Behringer, Michael, Heinke, Lars, Leyendecker, Jannik, Mester, Joachim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Elsevier Inc 01.09.2018; BioMed Central; Springer Japan
• Subjects: Adult; Blood flow; Creatine; Creatine kinase; Exercise - physiology; Femur; Human growth hormone; Humans; Immunoglobulins; Insulin; Knee; Lactate; Lactic acid; Male; Muscle damage; Muscle Fatigue - physiology; Muscle, Skeletal - blood supply; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Occlusion; Original Paper; Pain; Pressure; Regional Blood Flow; Resistance Training; Young Adult; Lactate; Creatine kinase; Human growth hormone; Muscle damage
• ISSN: 1880-6546; 1880-6562; 1880-6562
• DOI: 10.1007/s12576-017-0568-2

We investigated if blood flow restriction (BFR, cuff pressure 20 mmHG below individual occlusion pressure) increases metabolic stress, hormonal response, release of muscle damage markers, and muscle swelling induced by moderate-intensity eccentric contractions. In a randomized, matched-pair design, 20 male subjects (25.3±3.3 years) performed four sets of unilateral eccentric knee extensions (75% 1RM) to volitional failure with (IG) or without (CG) femoral BFR. Despite significant differences of performed repetitions between IG (85.6±15.4 repetitions) and CG (142.3±44.1 repetitions), peak values of lactate (IG 7.0±1.4 mmol l−1, CG 6.9±2.7 mmol l−1), growth-hormone (IG 4.9±4.8 ng ml−1, CG 5.2±3.5 ng ml−1), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IG 172.1±41.9 ng ml−1, CG 178.7±82.1 ng ml−1), creatine-kinase (IG 625.5±464.8 U l−1, CG 510.7±443.5 U l−1), the absolute neutrophil count (IG 7.9±1.3 103 µl−1, CG 8.7±2.0 103 µl−1), induced muscle swelling of rectus femoris and vastus lateralis and perceived pain did not differ. The present data indicate that BFR is suitable to intensify eccentric exercises.